| Good evening, ForbesBLK. Jabari here, coming to you from breezy Beverly Hills, the site of the annual the Milken Institute Global Conference. The finance-themed conference gathers hundreds of the world’s most brilliant minds to exchange ideas at the highest levels. Wealth builders, including Robert F. Smith, the Chairman and Founder of Vista Equity Partners, and Patrice Motsepe, the 10th richest person in Africa, were in attendance. Surprisingly, Motsepe, who is worth $3.1 billion according to Forbes, floated through the overflow crowd at the Waldorf Astoria partly unrecognized. Kim Lew, the President and CEO of Columbia Investment Management Company, was also there. She oversees Columbia University’s $11 billion endowment. Also spotted: John Hope Bryant, who was recently featured in Forbes and serves on the ForbesBLK advisory board. Dr. Oz spoke, and Magic Johnson discussed his involvement in buying the NFL’s Washington Commanders. Beverly Hilton, the conference site, was shut down to outsiders, especially when U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived. Topics included the state of U.S. housing, which is in a supply crisis, and even the business of buying tax liens. The future of AI and jobs, how other countries think about energy, and, on the quiet sidelines, the conference had private talks about the world’s ongoing uncertainty. If I had to describe my first Milken Institute Global Conference in one word: powerful. And I plan to further build on some discussions at our third annual ForbesBLK Summit on October 8-10 in Atlanta. Here's few other takeaways from the Milken Institute Global Conference: Get AI training ASAP: Milken Institute’s Troy Duffie moderated a panel about the business case for inclusive growth. That session featured Wally Adeyemo, the former U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, and Jim Shelton, CEO of Blue Meridian Partners, a nonprofit group. They both pointed out how America has failed at workforce development, especially at the federal and education levels. Manufacturing jobs that helped American families make economic progress over the last 40 years have evaporated thanks in part to global trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminated millions of factory jobs. “We have failed the promise,” Shelton said, referring to the country’s education training infrastructure, which should’ve prepared Americans for the next generation of work in sectors like clean energy. “That broken promise not only broke the promise in terms of economic mobility, but it made people angry. And we’re paying for it right now.” Meanwhile, Adeyemo offered a pretty big warning to white-collar workers unprepared for AI and the next wave of jobs, including Chief AI Officers. His point was clear: the country needs to act now to prevent another letdown. “AI can do to white-collar work what automation did to blue-collar work,” Adeyemo warned. “Unless we figure out how (to train people), we’ll be in a place where that same promise that felt broken at the turn of the 21st century will feel broken over the next decade.” DEI suffers another blow: One of the most intriguing panels I attended was entitled, Words That Work 2025 Edition. The packed session discussed how Americans interpret language and even colors in marketing, presented by notable pollster and political consultant Frank Luntz. I like Frank Luntz. He appears sensible and fair, though I don’t always agree. Still, he put up these two slides I thought were interesting: |
